Faced with mutiny at the Bangladesh Rifles Pilkhana barracks, and its spreading to many other areas, the government of Bangladesh, terrified at the consequences of such a sudden eruption of anger of the troops, initially offered to accept their demands, confirming its own weakness. Now the manhunt for the rebels is on, but the open challenge to their superior officers revealed by the ranks is an indication of how weak the state is and underlines the enormous revolutionary potential within society.

After about 33 hours of storming and seizure by
the rebel soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) of their
headquarters, in Pilkhana, Dhaka, the soldiers ended the seizure
after all of their demands had been formally agreed to by the
government, including a general amnesty to the mutineers.

As the BBC News reported early on during the
mutiny, “Bangladesh's prime minister has offered a general amnesty
to border guards to try to end the mutiny at their HQ in the capital,
Dhaka. Representatives who met Sheikh Hasina at her office have
reportedly agreed the mutineers will lay down their arms. They have
returned to the barracks with the PM's offer.”

It was however reported that in the meantime the
mutiny among the BDR soldiers had quickly spread to many other areas
encompassing the whole of Bangladesh and the government would find it
more difficult to buy peace in these areas.

Perplexed at the unexpected rebellion, the government made a failed attempt to resort to force to quell the mutiny. Photo by Muzib Mehdy.

In fact since the initial attempt to broker a
deal, the whole situation spiralled out of control. Now the news is
about a manhunt launched by the Bangladesh army to arrest the border
guards who had mutinied, killing, according to latest reports, 140
army officers. So big did the mutiny become that now the government
has issued arrest warrants for "1,000 guardsmen and
accomplices".

The rebellion of the troops was directed primarily
against the corruption of their officers, appalling levels of pay and
work conditions inside the force and the discrimination being meted
out to the troops in this force as against their counterparts in the
army.

One of the hostages, Major Zaed, who was released
later, told the media that more than 100 officers of the force, who
were taken hostage, had been eliminated by the rebels. However, the
State Minister for Law, was putting the number at 55. What is certain
is that on the morning of 27 February, the death of 77 people, 67
among them officers of the armed forces, had been confirmed. Since
then the situation escalated. Those dead include almost the entire
top brass of the Bangladesh Rifles, reported to have been wiped out
at the hands of the mutineers, including its Chief Maj. Gen. Shakil
Ahmed. More bodies of the officers are being recovered from the
drains inside the barracks in Pilkhana.

A number of vehicles inside the headquarters
compound were torched, while massive smoke billowed out of the
compound. Unceasing gunfire was heard for about first four hours of
the seizure.

The Bangladesh Rifles, a 67,000-strong
paramilitary force, is deployed to secure the 4,427 kilometre
frontiers of Bangladesh with India and Myanmar. This is in accordance
with the Indo-Bangladesh Treaty which bars both countries from
deploying army units to man the borders and provides for surveillance
through paramilitary forces.

The origins of the Bangladesh Rifles can be traced
back to 1795, when it was organized by the British Colonialists, as
the “Ramgarh Local Battalion”. In 1971, the Bangladesh Rifles had
pioneered the revolt against the control of Pakistani officers over
its troops. It had played a major role in fighting for the
independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan. But the structures of this
force, like most of the other armed forces in the countries of South
Asia, continued to be colonial.

Revolt against
appalling conditions

Long-standing grievances and demands of the
troops, which continued to be ignored by the officers and those in
power, prepared the storm that broke out in the form of last week’s
mutiny. These demands included an end to corruption, a pay hike on a
par with that of army troops, opportunities for promotion, the
withdrawal of overseeing officers from army, better food supplies,
stoppage of diversion of food supplies and funds.

In fact, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh
Hasina had visited the barracks on February24. The troops were
pressurising their officers to put their demands before the Prime
Minister, on her visit to the barracks. The officers, however,
refused to do so.

The mutiny then started at 8.30am on 25 February,
local time, when about 300 troops in the Pilkhana Barracks housing
the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles, left the barracks to enter
the conference hall, where among the annual celebrations of the
Force, a meeting of top officials of the force was going on. The 300
troops laid siege to the conference hall and took hostage all the
officers present there. It is significant that the Non-Commissioned
Officers (NCOs) supported the mutiny against the officer corps.

The troops later eliminated most of their officers
selectively, while sparing a few. Those officers who had earned fame
for their notoriety in amassing wealth by swindling rations meant for
poor troops and oppression of their subordinate troops, were
executed. According to rough estimates, about 14 were shot on the
spot. For example, one Colonel Muzibur Haq, the third highest ranking
officer in the force, who was individually responsible for stealing
food funds and supplies and had made millions of dollars out of this
lucrative activity, suffered the wrath of the anger of the troops.
Similarly, the Director General of the Force, Major General Shakeel
Ahmad, killed by the troops, was famous for his lavish and corrupt
lifestyle and for taking severe and repressive measures against the
troops.

In anticipation of a fatal probability of fraternization among the troops of BDR and the army, the government was terrified of allowing a face-to-face confrontation between the two. Photo by Muzib Mehdy.

There had been long standing allegations of
extreme corruption by the officers deputed from the army on short
service of 2 to 4 years. The food funds and supplies meant for poor
troops in the force, were being diverted in bulk by these officers to
the open market, out of which millions were being made.

While the officer class siphoned off the food and
funds, the average soldier in the Force received a meagre monthly
wage of around $70. The appeals against the appalling conditions of
the troops were not even heard by the officers, never mind addressing
them.

These elite officers imposed upon the force from
the army, had remained totally insensitive towards the woes of
ordinary soldiers. Instead of addressing the problems of the rank and
file in the force, they had focused on filling their coffers with
booty generated from swindling of funds and food.

While the troops in the force originate from
toiling layers within society, the officers deputed from the army
essentially come from the upper layers and in most of the cases they
have links with the ruling elite of Bangladesh. Army officers are
deputed into the force apparently to maintain bureaucratic control
upon the Force through the army. This composition of the force,
resting upon the bayonets of troops, constituted a self-contradiction
in itself, which ultimately has manifested itself in a rebellion of
troops.

Government was
being forced to capitulate

The elite Government was in a fix as to what to do
and what not to do. Perplexed at the unexpected rebellion, first, it
attempted to resort to force. It mobilized the army and Air Force
against the mutineers. It failed in the face of the mood of rebel
troops, who threatened that they would destroy everything in and
around Pilkhana, should the army attack them. The next moment, the
Government was bending under the pressure of the situation. Sheikh
Hasina, the Prime Minister had to meet the 14 representatives of the
mutineer troops at her official residence. Terrified at how things
were developing, she immediately agreed to accept all of the demands
of the troops and vowed to take no action against those who had taken
part in the mutiny. It had taken hardly 4 hours before the government
had been forced to its knees before the rebel soldiery.

However, desperate to settle accounts with the
rebels, the elite officers in the army and the bourgeois politicians,
wanted to play a game of intrigue with the mutineers. While the
government promised to be lenient, the army continued to surround the
barracks. The mutineers demanded that the army should be sent to its
garrisons first and only then would the mutineers leave the barracks.

The mutiny spreads
in support of the 50-demand charter

As the army continued to surround the barracks in
Pilkhana, the troops of the Bangladesh Rifles started to mutiny in
other places including Dinajpur, Chittagong, Naugaon, etc. The
rebellion was reported to have spread to at least 16 other places in
Bangladesh. This widespread uprising ended the isolation of the
troops at Pilkhana and prevented the government from concentrating
its forces at the Headquarters at Pilkhana.

Emboldened by the support lent by their brothers
in other towns, the mutineers extended their demands and raised a
comprehensive charter of 50 demands, which called for complete
democratisation of the armed forces in Bangladesh. This charter of
demands was virtually a manifesto against the bureaucratic control of
the armed forces by the elite of Bangladesh.

While the mutiny at the headquarters at Pilkhana
continued, the Government of Bangladesh, seeking to take advantage of
the lower political consciousness among the army troops, pushed these
to confront the rebel BDR, using the intriguing perception that the
BDR had eliminated the officers that were on deputation from the
army. However, in anticipation of a fatal probability of
fraternization among the troops of BDR and the army, the government
was terrified of allowing a face-to-face confrontation between the
two.

The Prime Minister, called an emergency meeting of
the Cabinet at her residence to chalk out a strategy on February 26.
The grim situation did not permit the cabinet to take any decision.
The Prime Minister only issued the usual warning that if the
mutineers would not surrender, harsh measures would be taken against
them, while repeating the offer of a general amnesty. The rebel
soldiers, however, rejected the proposal pressing for their 50
demands to be met in full, together with withdrawal of the army from
the headquarters of the BDR.

The Government, terrified by the fact that the
mutiny was spreading to other areas in the country, was initially
forced to accede to the demand of the rebel soldiers. “Normalcy”
could be restored at headquarters in Pilkhana, only after the Home
Minister Sahara Khatun and Finance Minister AMA Muhith, themselves
arrived at the headquarters to observe the laying down of arms by the
rebels. Since then, of course, all talk of amnesty has been dropped
as the manhunt proceeds for rebel BDR troops.

Bangladesh’s
“failed state”

With a total population of about 150 million,
Bangladesh falls under the category of a so-called “failed State”,
where living conditions for the mass of population are unbearable and
among the worst in Asia. Poverty, unemployment, backwardness,
illiteracy mark the social life of the country. Two Presidents have
been killed in military takeovers of power since 1971, while 19 big
and small failed coup attempts have taken place, since the
independence of Bangladesh in 1971. As recent general elections have
shown, the ruling classes, as a whole, have taken a sharp turn
towards fundamentalism and conservatism.

The ruling elite in Bangladesh has become weaker
than ever and the present abortive uprising of troops of the BDR will
surely contribute to their further disintegration. While the
political turmoil in Bangladesh requires a resolute action on the
part of revolutionary forces, especially the working class in this
country, the Stalinist left in Bangladesh continues to be in a state
of inertia, unable to play any role in the rapidly changing
circumstances. The absence of a revolutionary leadership of the
working class inside Bangladesh, thus seems to be the only missing
link in the chain of revolution.

What distinguishes the present action of the
soldiers from previous ones is that this time it was the rank and
file that had fought for the issues which pertain to its own
conditions of life and which are fundamental to political life in the
country and its toiling masses. Corruption of the elite is one such
fundamental issue.

This time, the soldiers’ mutiny took place at a
time when the elite governments, including that of Bangladesh, are
engulfed in economic crisis. The mutiny, which itself is an offshoot
of this crisis, because of worsening economic conditions of the
soldiers, is the first shot of the peoples’ unrest in Bangladesh.

While the structures of the armed forces of
countries in South Asia remain colonial as a whole, their composition
has continued to change. The devastation and proletarianisation of
the peasantry is reflected in the changing composition and mood of
the rank and file of these armed forces. As we know, the regimes of
the elite classes, of the capitalists and landlords, today rest upon
the might of the repressive apparatus of these armed forces, more
than ever. The repression of troops, who come from working masses of
the people, at the hands of officers, who emanate from the upper
classes, is the prior condition for the preservation of this
repressive apparatus over and above the people and against them.
“Discipline” is the cover for this barbaric repression. The elite
regimes, like that of Bangladesh, and in the whole of South Asia for
that matter, already alienated from the people, have become
completely degenerate.

The mutiny has sent shock waves throughout the
ruling elite of the world, especially that of the neighbouring
countries of Bangladesh. The Home Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee,
immediately picked up the hotline to contact the Prime Minister of
Bangladesh, to express “concern” over the situation.

This mutiny shows clearly that these regimes will
not be able to count on the blind strength of their armed forces for
long, when faced with a revolutionary upsurge of the masses. We are
not far from the time when the poor and oppressed inside and outside
the armed forces will come to the aid and support of each other and
will rise in unison against their common enemy: the elite, the
capitalists and landlords.

This mutiny also demonstrates that developments in
underdeveloped countries will be sudden, unexpected and abrupt, as
Leon Trotsky pointed out long ago. The mutiny also contradicts the
preaching of Maoist leaders, who falsely claim that the
underdeveloped countries will tread the path of “protracted”
struggles. After innumerable opportunities have already been missed
in the past because of the mistaken policies of the Stalinist and
Maoist leaders, in this period of crisis more and more opportunities
are being presenting for the revolutionary forces, and many more will
present themselves in the future. The only factor that continues to
be lacking is that of a genuine revolutionary leadership, capable of
harnessing all the pent up anger of the oppressed masses, such that
the periodic revolts can lead to conscious revolutionary overturns.